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JANESVILLE—Sheriff's deputies stopped a car on South Highway 51 Wednesday and reported confiscating two pounds of an ecstasy-like drug whose precise chemical makeup is not clear and whose origin might be China.

The drug has a value of $32,000, according to a news release from the Rock County Sheriff's Office.

Allen A. Strzyzykowski, 23, of 1731 S. Crosby Ave., Janesville, was charged in Rock County Court on Friday with possession with intent to deliver non-narcotics/methylone and possession of marijuana.

Working off a tip from federal authorities and a Washington County detective, the sheriff's office trailed Strzyzykowski on Wednesday, according to a criminal complaint.

The tip was that a man arrested earlier that day on a federal warrant in a previous investigation was to meet Strzyzykowski at Turtle Island, a playground in Beloit's Riverside Park to buy “crystal,” according to the complaint.

“Surveillance units” trailed Strzyzykowski for more than four hours in Janesville, and at about 5 p.m. they saw a car in which Strzyzykowski was a passenger stop at a storage unit at 232 N. Crosby Ave., Janesville, the complaint states.

The car parked inside the storage unit with its hood open and then left and headed south on Highway 51.

Deputies stopped the car near the Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport, and a cellophane bag containing a white-tan crystaline substance was found in the engine compartment, according to the complaint.

The substance tested positive for MDMA, also called ecstasy, but in a past case the test was positive for ecstasy when the drug was actually a chemically similar substance, methylone, sheriff's Sgt. Aaron Burdick told The Gazette.

Burdick said investigators believe the drug came from China.

According to a 2012 FBI news release, methylone is an analog of ecstasy sold under the guise of “bath salts” or “plant food.”

“According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the narcotic has been increasingly popular—particularly among teens and young adults—and, along with ecstasy, mimics the effects of cocaine, LSD, and/or methamphetamine,” the FBI news release states.

Also found under the hood of Strzyzykowski's car was a small amount of suspected marijuana, the complaint states.

Interviewed Thursday by the DEA agent and Washington County detective, Strzyzykowski said the substance found in the car was not illegal and that it was Alpha-PVP, according to the complaint.

However, alpha-pyrrolidinovalerophenone was recently listed as an illegal drug in Wisconsin statutes, the complaint states.

The complaint also cites a phone call Strzyzykowski placed from the jail Thursday in which he allegedly said the substance was “the same stuff as last time.” Investigators interpreted that to mean a substance Janesville police seized in 2013, which tested positive for methylone.

A search of the storage unit turned up “packaging material commonly associated with the sale of illegal drugs,” according to a sheriff's office new release.

Strzyzykowski's wife, Cassandra J. Strzyzykowski, 22, also was arrested Wednesday on charges of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, possession of marijuana and maintaining a drug trafficking vehicle.

Both the Strzyzykowskis were held at the Rock County Jail.

Strzyzykowski had recently been placed on probation for possession of marijuana, the complaint states.